The University of Rhode Island’s chapter of Rotaract has continued to serve the Rhode Island community despite the challenges posed by COVID-19.
Rotaract is the collegiate equivalent of Rotary International, an international service organization that has dedicated itself to “provide service to others, promote integrity and advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through our fellowship of business, professional and community leaders.”
URI Rotaract is focused on serving the local communities of North and South Kingstown, Wakefield, Westerly and sometimes Providence, according to senior Xaviera Valencia, the organization’s president.
“Even in tough times everyone’s trying to get together and help others is really the most rewarding experience and seeing that your service is actually helping other people,” freshman Sam Salerno, a member of Rotaract, said. “A lot of times you want to do the right thing but you don’t really know what to do. Our goal is to serve with what [the community] actually needs.”
Rotaract works to help the community through acts of service. This Tuesday they held an event with URI S.A.V.E.S. (Students Actively Volunteering and Engaging in Service) to write cards for sick children through the Confetti Foundation. Other service activities in the past have included cleaning Charlestown Beach, staffing the Mew’s Tavern Road Race and collecting food outside of Belmont Market to combat food insecurity.
Just as with other student organizations, recruitment has been difficult due to COVID-19 restrictions on campus and the absence of First Night. Currently, only around 15-20 members attend Rotaract’s meetings, whereas, in the past, the meetings would fill a room out the door, according to vice president Lindsay Dowd.
She did note that more students have been attending events than meetings though and that the pandemic has also created new opportunities for Rotaract to interact with its members.
“Because of COVID we’ve actually gotten to build, in my opinion, a stronger bond with our members,” Valencia said. “Now, I know everyone’s names and I know a little bit about everyone, whereas when we were in a room with 50 people and, like Lindsay said, you couldn’t see people in the last half of the room, it’s very difficult to get to know people that way. So COVID has kind of been a problem but it’s also been facilitating kind of a new and healthy change in Rotaract.”
Treasurer Emmett Munterich described the new meetings as “the honors version of Rotaract.” He also noted that the pandemic has also put a large weight on students who are only in their late teens and early twenties. Because of this, they have begun focusing on what they have been calling “self service.”
Rotaract has been working to create a therapeutic environment at meetings, where members don’t have to think about the world outside of their Zoom call, according to Munterich. He said that, while it feels good to do service, members also have to treat themselves well and work to grow.
Meetings are no longer just PowerPoint presentations on current issues and future events. Instead, they are conversations between members. Their move to Zoom has facilitated this change, as Valencia said PowerPoints are no longer a viable option to engage members.
Besides changing their meeting style, COVID-19 restrictions have also restricted what events Rotaract can participate in. Munterich noted that many of the regular events that Rotaract does have been canceled, including “Light the Night,” the annual walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Dowd said that they had to rethink what an event really meant and go through the logistics, such as social distancing, limiting the number of participants and wearing masks. In the end, they were still able to organize events.
“Last semester we were at Charlestown Beach and we worked [with] Save the Bay, [who] we always wanted to work with,” Dowd said. “Sometimes just leaving the house right now is new, and, like, just seeing people in general. We were just able to talk a little bit with our friends [in groups of] two or three people wearing masks. It was just nice to be able to enjoy the day outside and serve together and be able to just feel like Rotaract exists.”
According to Valencia, Rotaract will continue to serve the local community with what they need, regardless of what the future brings. To follow what and take part in what URI Rotaract is doing, follow them on Instagram @urirotaract.